Never Obsolete God

11th Sunday after Pentecost
Psalm 111
From Eugene Peterson's translation of Psalm 111, especially verse 8: "He (God) manufactures truth and justice, all his products are guaranteed to last -- never out of date, never obsolete, rust-proof. All that he makes is honest and true."

I saw the King Tut exhibit last week. The things in the King Tut exhibit have survived for about 3700 years – things he was expected to need for eternity: furniture, jewelry, figurines of slaves, even games. Even some of his body still remains. It’s amazing they survived grave robbers and the excavation and travels, but they probably will survive several hundred years more at this rate.

I grew up in a family that loved antiques – my grandmother was an antique dealer – so I was surrounded by old, useful things that had become special and protected. Grandma had a collection of salts – little crystal containers with tiny spoons that held salt. You spooned out your salt. Salt shakers made them obsolete. I have books over a hundred years old – they don’t smell so good, but I treasure them. I have a buffet for my dining room that was my great-great grandfathers. I never knew him, but I have his furniture. We have an architect’s table from Kelly’s great-great grandfather. I wear jewelry made for women generations ago that I never met. My bedroom set is from Ethel Olson, a woman who lived down the street from me when I was growing up – it is from the 50s. I still have one of the hand-painted lamps that was original to the set.

Most things we have these days aren’t going to last that long. I asked on my blog what things we use that don’t last as long as they used to, and what things we used to use that are now obsolete. Several people wrote about watches – pocket watches; cheap watches; wind-up watches.
Others items that are obsolete: slide rules; manual typewriters; mercury thermometers
spats; sock darners; rotary phones; fountain pens; quill & ink wells; Russia
We might like to create something that will last forever, we might want to make a mark – but we can’t even make something that will last very long, in the scheme of things. Even the oldest rocks on the earth will eventually break up and become sand and dust. Eventually the sun will blow up and the earth will die, if an asteroid doesn’t hit us first. This is not a permanent situation here. There is nothing eternal about this earth. Our home is not forever and ever. The thing we have created that will probably last the longest is the radioactive waste from nuclear energy – some isotopes will be radioactive longer than 100,000 years. Even King Tut’s things won’t make it that long.

The King Tut exhibit said several times that one thing Tutankhamen desired was eternal life, immortality. The people of that culture did an awful lot – awful, and lot – to ensure the best eternal life they could. The exhibit said several times that Tut is now immortal as he comes to life when we speak his name.

We want to live forever. We want to make an impact that will last forever. We want the things we have loved to last into eternity. But really, taking the long view, what will last forever? This species, that species, our names and histories, our art, our work, this piece of land, the earth, the sun – all will, one day, be gone.

But God – God will not wear out. God will not succumb to the slow decay or the violent blast. God will not slip away into nothingness. God does not become obsolete as fashions change. God holds the foundations of time itself, and God holds us. So even if our names will not last past the end of the earth, in God’s mind and heart we will last, we will continue, in some way.

I kind of miss having household things that I know will last my lifetime. I’m a little sorry about the planned obsolescence of things. But I don’t need to be anxious about my legacy, or that people must remember me so I can be immortal, or that I need to be buried with things that will preserve me for thousands of years – the God I know is never obsolete.

So we should take care of the things we have and buy, we should be wise about what we do with our stuff, and we should care for our legacy and most especially our children well. But the real difference we make is when we love one another, when we work for justice, when we open our hearts to others -- then we are participating in eternity, then we are part of God's work, then we truly escape the bounds of time.